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I'm b-a-a-c-k!!

10/17/2012

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Well, sporadically... but drawing sessions have started up again, so I should at least be able to get one sketch up per week here. It's been a good summer, lots of slo-pitch played and lots of stuff done around the homestead... but now back to work!

I like how these two sketches turned out... the model (Shine again - she's becoming my 'muse') would have liked to take these home with her - always a nice compliment when that happens. The exercise was to make contour drawings using the positive, then negative spaces... comments, as always, welcomed!

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Baseh-ball bin berry, berry gud to me...

7/20/2012

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Back in February, I mentioned that I have an addiction to slo-pitch. I played casually and horsed around in my early years, but really came to love the game later in life. Now I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time - Willie Stargell put it this way "I found myself in a race with Mother Nature to play as much baseball as I could before she forced me to stop". So I play almost 5 times a week on five different leagues - three are all women, one co-ed and one seniors league (one of only two women players - but we're working on that!)

Hard to pick a favourite league, but Friday nights could be the one - haven't played there the longest, but I've made some of the best friendships of my life... all women, all playing levels, all ages (well, over 25 at least) - nothing super competitive, but make no mistake that we all want to win our games! So I was honoured and humbled (and completely, gob-smackingly, shocked & surprised) when I was elected as a kind of 'Miss Congeniality' a couple of weekends ago at our annual, mid-summer tournament. Now I have to wear a crazy costume and behave myself at league functions (no getting silly over too many beers!) but I couldn't be prouder to be placed in the same company as some of the best women I've ever known. The story is a whole blog post in itself, so more on previous Miss M.I.S.T.s later.

Now to think of something good to contribute to the costume... every year since 2003 the current 'holder of the parasol' has added something to the ensemble - they'll need a steamer trunk to carry it around in another couple of years...

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Black Velvet Painting

7/6/2012

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Drawn on black card stock - I can see how those paintings on black velvet that I used to be so enamoured with when I went to The Ex, would be fun to do... it hurts the brain a bit to figure out the lights before the shadows, but once you're in the groove of it, it seems to work out nicely.

I'm a bit of a wimp about colour, but went wild and added some orange, brown and green to the lit areas... I like the result, but feel I really need to stretch more.

Visited a long-time friend yesterday who has been painting and drawing consistently for over 40 years despite some very serious health challenges. Her work is imaginative, thoughtful, colourful, skillful and above-all completely authentic. She paints from her imagination using reference if she needs it and the results are stunning. I was fully humbled at what she's accomplished over the same time that I've been frittering away!

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Falling Off the Earth

7/6/2012

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I've completely fallen off drawing every day now...  lucky if I find time once a week. The recurring theme has been to not beat myself up about it (really, what good does that do?) but the result has been a nagging feeling of self-loathing for not following through on my exercise. (Not unlike my gym membership card, which languishes in my wallet - never used). In fact, I believe my drawings are weaker because of these feelings. I definitely understand how people have a hard time finishing projects. I guess real artists just don't really give a damn... as it should be!

These 2 sketches were done in about 3 hrs. The models were fantastic and maintained their poses well despite its obvious complication.
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'Shine'

6/20/2012

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I've drawn this model several times - feels a bit like she has a 'muse' quality for me... but the reason I'm not really happy with this one is that if I have too much time, the drawing gets overworked and stiff - all the spontaneity that I love in quick sketches gets scribbled over and it begins to look cartoonish. Not my worst drawing, but not the best either.

Two and a half hours is too long for me to stick with the same drawing... my a.d.d. might be showing!

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Portrait night

6/20/2012

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This was drawn weeks ago, but I'm just getting around to posting now... One of my favourite models but we haven't seen her for a while because she was recently married and her time has been spent doing newlywed stuff.
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Modeling isn't easy pt 2!

6/8/2012

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We seem to be kinda hard on models... Last night we had another fainting spell... Must be something in our atmosphere. Maybe we're too far north, or the elevation is too high. Good thing we have chairs!

Sketch on the left was about 5 mins. On the right, about 2.5 hrs
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May 18th, 2012

5/18/2012

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Last night's exercise... make something up in the background. Our model wore a kinda funky straw hat and half-sat/stood. I thought she looked like she was waiting for something - a train, or a plane... so I drew in the arched doorways. We ran out of time, but I might add some suitcases later, maybe a big trunk.

I think I need a vacation...

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Modeling for artists isn't easy...

5/14/2012

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It's funny how things turn out. Last week our model started with a standing pose - back to most of the students. It was fine, but not exceptional or exciting... then about 10 minutes into the pose, she started to feel not so good... she warned us that she was stepping down for a break - no problem, but then she proceeded to fall into a faint. Thank goodness Neville was close by and caught her before she fell. We would have given up the night and let her go home, but she wanted to carry on - so we got her into as comfortable a pose as possible and she toughed it out for the remaining two hours - we watched her pretty carefully afterwards, but she did a great job - a tough cookie!

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"I'm Tired" ...Lili Von Schtupp (aka Madeline Kahn)

5/3/2012

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Drawn last week, but I've been buried in work for several weeks, so posting drawings has been relegated to backburner status. My 365-day experiment is going sadly awry and not finding time to draw every day is not good for my mood.

So, I will do my best to get caught up but not beat myself up too much about missing days...

What the heck - I can change it to 365 posts, not necessarily consecutive - so what if it takes until March 2016? Click here for Madeline...

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Building structure

4/20/2012

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No question that regular practice really helps, so last night I was fairly happy with the outcome... since the exercise was to build structure through straight lines and outlines... filling in only when you're pretty satisfied with the composition and proportions. Now, if I could build structure in my consistency and continue to draw regularly, maybe it won't always be so darn painful.
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Less is More...

4/13/2012

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Sometimes the term baffles me, I mean who ever wants less chocolate, or green space, or especially time - but in this case it really worked. The exercise was to create a drawing using little or no lines - only tones. I struggled with it for about half an hour, then things started to work out. Lots of things I can improve on, but it was nice to see a result that helped me understand that a lot of extra detail can ruin a perfectly good sketch.
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Stolen from my friend Eliz...

3/30/2012

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A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up first, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it's normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that's the source of your problems and stress. The cup adds no quality to the coffee in most cases and in some cases even hides what we drink.
What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... and then began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have doesn't define, nor change the quality of life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee."
Life is the coffee, not the cup... 
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March 24

3/24/2012

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When I was quite small, I asked my dad what he would buy for himself if he had all the money in the world... he thought about it, then said he'd always wanted a sailboat. Dad always loved the water - when he was a teenager, he worked summers as a lifeguard at the Toronto Island Yacht Club. Back in those days he belonged to a swim club in Etobicoke run by Gus Ryder, the trainer that worked with Marilyn Bell who later swam across Lake Ontario. My brother and I loved when he'd come with us to the local swimming pool. He was a pretty low-key guy, but if we pleaded enough, he'd do some fancy dives off the diving board. More than once I heard applause. I swore that when I grew up and became a rich and famous artist, I'd buy him the best darn sailboat that money could buy.

The rich and famous thing hasn't happened (at least not so far) and sadly, Dad passed away last October - by now, he would have been none too steady on a sailboat, but that memory has always stuck with me. Today is his birthday - he would have been 81 - we'd have had cake and he'd have blown out candles... I really miss you Dad.

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Lady Day

3/13/2012

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For Valentine's Day Dave bought us tickets to see a performance of 'Lady Day', a selection of the songs of Billie Holiday... the show was Saturday night at the Glenn Gould Studio about a week ago. I thought Ashley Rose, the young lead singer, started out a bit nervous and I worried that it wouldn't turn out well, but as the evening moved along she seemed to feel the audience warming up to her and when she let herself really get into the music, her own passion came through loud and clear. Tough to come out dressed like and singing songs by one of the most iconic singers of the jazz era, but she did a great job - the band was amazing too - I hope Billie would have been proud.

It was really nice to go out to something other than a hockey game for a change too. Thanks honey!
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    Middle-aged graphic designer... no real axe to grind

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